If I, as an adult spank another adult because I think they are acting like a child, it is me who is the criminal.

]]>By: Sasha Shepherdhttp://boingboing.net/2013/02/06/woman-flips-off-judge-during-a.html#comment-1648698
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 02:04:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=211393#comment-1648698If there were no war on drugs, she wouldn’t be in court.
]]>By: Sasha Shepherdhttp://boingboing.net/2013/02/06/woman-flips-off-judge-during-a.html#comment-1648696
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 02:02:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=211393#comment-1648696You would feel right at home in an authoritarian society.

Like America 2013…

]]>By: Flugfrei Joneshttp://boingboing.net/2013/02/06/woman-flips-off-judge-during-a.html#comment-1648691
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 01:59:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=211393#comment-1648691the base dosage for alprazolam is .25mg. the largest dosage you can get in one pill is the “totem pole” or “bar” (i’m assuming that’s what she had, because the other available dosages are just pills..) is 2mg. ibuprofen is 200x that. if you are healthy, you can take a MASSIVE dose of xanax and survive. if you have liver problems, much, much less.

BUT, if you’re a kid at a party, and you’ve had a couple of mixed drinks or a few beers, and you take 2mg of xanax, it can stop your heart, especially if you have no tolerance for the drug.

CNS depressants, especially benzodiazepines are sneaky like that, and xanax is a pretty powerful one. i said it above, i’ll say it again, grass is one thing, but a drug that can kill you outright under common circumstances probably shouldn’t be unscheduled.

not to mention the fact that xanax is SUPER addictive, a good friend of mine checked himself into the nut house when i was younger in an attempt to get off the stuff. a quick google search will give you tons of info on what a pain in the ass it is to stop, and the problems if you just quit outright.

I can say ‘fuck you’ to just about anyone anywhere, and I might get smacked, I might get kicked out of Wal-Mart but I won’t go to jail.

Say it to a member of the protected caste, and suddenly it’s a crime.

The fact that most people think it is OK shows how deep the rot goes in our collective consciousness.

]]>By: bzishihttp://boingboing.net/2013/02/06/woman-flips-off-judge-during-a.html#comment-1648680
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 01:52:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=211393#comment-1648680And yet again, here we have ANOTHER post where a person can’t demonstrate a single person that this woman harmed by flipping off a judge while walking away.

For some reason, everybody who responds to me seems to think I care about the procedures of the criminal justice system. I don’t. I worked for 6 months with a very level headed city judge. I have more than a passing idea how it works. Cases like the judge in the video are how it doesn’t work and it horrifies me.

What I care about is the ethics: is it right or wrong? Should the judge have sentenced this woman to 30 days? And the central question there is whether the state should have the power to forcibly confine a woman if it can’t demonstrate that she harmed anyone. If you cannot answer this question, then you aren’t debating me, you are just running around in circles confusing yourself.

]]>By: Sasha Shepherdhttp://boingboing.net/2013/02/06/woman-flips-off-judge-during-a.html#comment-1648676
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 01:49:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=211393#comment-1648676Except, as is the norm in our whole broken evil system, they were protecting the ‘civility’ in the court by throwing her in a cage with violent people and/or extracting money from her.

Give her a lecture on manners? Make her write 100 times on a chalkboard? Fine. Throw her in a cage? That’s called kidnapping if anyone else does it.

]]>By: Sasha Shepherdhttp://boingboing.net/2013/02/06/woman-flips-off-judge-during-a.html#comment-1648672
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 01:46:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=211393#comment-1648672Someone who is being paid 6 figures to parade around and put a facade of deceny around the act lock me in a cage with violent people for a victimless crime?

No, sorry, fuck them – they deserve zero respect.

The judge is one of millions of accomplices to a criminal system. Fuck them.

]]>By: rattypilgrimhttp://boingboing.net/2013/02/06/woman-flips-off-judge-during-a.html#comment-1648670
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 01:43:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=211393#comment-1648670The judge could very possibly be taking kick-back from the private prison industry. Two judges in Pennsylvania took a couple of million dollars from a juvenile prison building company and sentenced 2,000 minors to long stays for things like mocking the school principal on facebook.
]]>By: Flugfrei Joneshttp://boingboing.net/2013/02/06/woman-flips-off-judge-during-a.html#comment-1648669
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 01:42:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=211393#comment-1648669no, it really doesn’t.
]]>By: Flugfrei Joneshttp://boingboing.net/2013/02/06/woman-flips-off-judge-during-a.html#comment-1648664
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 01:32:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=211393#comment-1648664xanax is not weed. xanax will kill you.. we had a student die here last year from xanax and less than a 6pack of beer, his girlfriend found him on the floor in the bathroom, and i got to sit next to her in class the next day. (before she decided she couldn’t handle it and left)

i think we need to legalize some drugs too, but powerful, addictive benzo’s, hell no..

]]>By: magpiekilljoyhttp://boingboing.net/2013/02/06/woman-flips-off-judge-during-a.html#comment-1648660
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 01:22:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=211393#comment-1648660I know no one is going to get to the bottom of this thread and read my comment, but… I think it’s perfectly legitimate that someone who has been put into a cage for having drugs on them to say “fuck you” to the person who is cold-heartedly assigning them the role of “criminal” in our society. I’d like to see how that judge would act if someone locked him up and then asked him questions that probably struck him as nonsensical and then grew angry when he didn’t play nice.
]]>By: Flugfrei Joneshttp://boingboing.net/2013/02/06/woman-flips-off-judge-during-a.html#comment-1648654
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 01:15:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=211393#comment-1648654agreed. someone “from the streets” isn’t going to be fucking around in court like that. she’s trying to play the judge like she might have played a teacher, or her parents.
]]>By: MarcVaderhttp://boingboing.net/2013/02/06/woman-flips-off-judge-during-a.html#comment-1648648
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 01:10:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=211393#comment-1648648And why would you respect a person who you’ve never met and who shows no respect for you? Because they are paragons of integrity, who represent and embody the infallibility of the criminal justice system? Of course not. No. That’s not respect. It is fear of what that system can do to you. If you’re privileged and you work within the system you may lose that fear and sublimate it into ‘decorum’. If you’re a good citizen you hide your fear behind a display of respect. If not, you continue to fear the power those on the inside have over you. Whatever state of mind she was in, and for whatever reason, the thing that strikes me is that she had none of that fear. She was naive. That in itself was more subversion than a pompous justice system that relies on fear for self-gratification can tolerate.

All the rules of due process would work just aswell without the ‘decorum’. It’s about the bloody law, is it not. A judge may sentence with or without ‘respect’, the outcome is the same. Heck they did get rid of the wigs after forever, and apparently the system was not particularly impaired by that.

However… watching the video again I really think the judge is being an asshole here and he’s playing a game for his own amusement. When he insists on getting an answer about the worth of her ‘jewerry’, she can’t answer that. Her jewelry is probably worth zilch, and she doesn’t want to admit to that. False pride. He sees it and plays on that. Then he says bye-bye. When she responds in kind he finds her in contempt. How unprofessional is that?

Decorum my ass.

]]>By: magpiekilljoyhttp://boingboing.net/2013/02/06/woman-flips-off-judge-during-a.html#comment-1648638
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 01:04:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=211393#comment-1648638why do we accept the fact that we live in a society where people can put you into a cage on a whim?
]]>By: Jim Wilehttp://boingboing.net/2013/02/06/woman-flips-off-judge-during-a.html#comment-1648596
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 00:16:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=211393#comment-1648596She wasn’t being sentenced – she was being held for trial and bail was set at $5000 and then $10000 because of her flippant attitude. The thirty in jail will be served before she can set bail or be tried.
]]>By: Jim Wilehttp://boingboing.net/2013/02/06/woman-flips-off-judge-during-a.html#comment-1648593
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 00:14:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=211393#comment-1648593She was acting in an insulting manner the entire time. She never took it seriously until the point he raised her bail. If people take anything away from this it should be: “Talk seriously, clearly, and respectfully with Judges. They can put your behind in jail on a whim. Legally.”
]]>By: wobinidanhttp://boingboing.net/2013/02/06/woman-flips-off-judge-during-a.html#comment-1648587
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 00:12:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=211393#comment-1648587 Yeah, I’m inclined to agree here. She was being an idiot and not taking the case seriously, but a simple ‘adios’ doesn’t even represent a straw that could break the camel’s back.

He should have either fined her double for acting immaturely in the first place, or just let it go. The fuck you that came afterwards was actually deserved, despite being a bad move on her part.

Also, 30 days in jail? That’s a nice burden on the taxpayer for a flippant remark. Maybe America should be looking to save money in the courtrooms if it wants to cut spending. I don’t know how much that’ll cost, but it’ll surely be a couple of thousand at least, just to make this girl have less chance of being a productive member of society.

]]>By: niktemadurhttp://boingboing.net/2013/02/06/woman-flips-off-judge-during-a.html#comment-1648578
Thu, 07 Feb 2013 00:01:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=211393#comment-1648578Punishment, as opposed to rehabilitation. Still in the dark ages, hizzoner might as well be wearing a powdered wig.
]]>By: niktemadurhttp://boingboing.net/2013/02/06/woman-flips-off-judge-during-a.html#comment-1648570
Wed, 06 Feb 2013 23:52:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=211393#comment-1648570And if you act like you are tripping, a possible way to defuse a situation is to say “I’m sorry for giggling in court Your Honor, I’m just very nervous right now”.
]]>By: Tom Bakerhttp://boingboing.net/2013/02/06/woman-flips-off-judge-during-a.html#comment-1648566
Wed, 06 Feb 2013 23:51:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=211393#comment-1648566Judge was playing for the crowd, when he flirts with her by saying bye-bye. He punishes her for saying Adios? WTF. The judge has a job to do, and its not to try to get into a fight trying to be cute. The Judge had no right to punish her for responding to him. This is why the people should be before the judge and not in some sort of room being video taped, and broadcast.
]]>By: Antinous / Moderatorhttp://boingboing.net/2013/02/06/woman-flips-off-judge-during-a.html#comment-1648561
Wed, 06 Feb 2013 23:46:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=211393#comment-1648561

This is nothing but your opinion. The judge ruled otherwise, and has the full force of the law behind him. I guess when you are a judge, you will let people treat you however they want.

For the millionth time: Dred Scott. Can we stop pretending that judges are magically right?

]]>By: Antinous / Moderatorhttp://boingboing.net/2013/02/06/woman-flips-off-judge-during-a.html#comment-1648536
Wed, 06 Feb 2013 23:30:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=211393#comment-1648536That’s more of a UK perspective, where judges’ statements frankly tend to read a bit like diary entries about their feelings. In the US, the judge is supposed to be more of a facilitator for the proceedings.
]]>By: SomeDudehttp://boingboing.net/2013/02/06/woman-flips-off-judge-during-a.html#comment-1648534
Wed, 06 Feb 2013 23:29:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=211393#comment-1648534You seem to have missed that I was referring to the judge, not her.
]]>By: Rob Detershttp://boingboing.net/2013/02/06/woman-flips-off-judge-during-a.html#comment-1648533
Wed, 06 Feb 2013 23:28:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=211393#comment-1648533Man, I’ve read all your posts and it shows, to me, a shocking amount of naivete and ignorance of the criminal justice system. First, as someone with a LOT of experience with clients who have been high or drunk or in court, she doesn’t strike me as especially high. And most, if not all courts, do not wait for someone to sober up before setting bond, since it needs to be set as soon as possible, otherwise, you’re depriving them of their right not be held without due process. So, there’s a conflict there. And she was not that “high” if she was at all.

So, let’s assume she has a drug problem. Let’s assume, as you have, without knowledge, that she has never been in the court system before. Let’s assume all that. Let’s concede that she doesn’t ‘harm’ the judge by flipping him off.

You’re still wrong. The court is not a foreign place. It’s not a concept we don’t understand, even at the age of 18. She has been arrested. Cuffs were placed on her, she was taken in a police car to a police station and spent the night in lock up and was told prior to her hearing what was going on.

She understood that she was seeing a judge. And she treated the whole thing like 1) a joke 2) something she could flirt her way out of and then 3) anger and defiance when her inappropriate behavior was called out on (and by the way, the bond, as set, was appropriate to begin with and still appropriate even after it was raised). So, why should judges not be able to enforce the order and decorum we expect of the criminal justice system? Why can’t the judge expect her to behave with a modicum of respect? I have seen drunk, crazy and stoned people act with more decorum than she did.

]]>By: blueelmhttp://boingboing.net/2013/02/06/woman-flips-off-judge-during-a.html#comment-1648524
Wed, 06 Feb 2013 23:22:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=211393#comment-1648524We don’t really know how “from the streets” she is. Why would we assume that? To me she seems middle/working class and probably like she’s going to end up in rehab eventually. Some one probably gave her some crap advice to act extra cute to get away with more in the court. It sucks, but that’s how it seems to me.
]]>By: blueelmhttp://boingboing.net/2013/02/06/woman-flips-off-judge-during-a.html#comment-1648512
Wed, 06 Feb 2013 23:17:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=211393#comment-1648512Yeah. I bet you like to teach little bitches hard lessons, eh?
]]>By: blueelmhttp://boingboing.net/2013/02/06/woman-flips-off-judge-during-a.html#comment-1648509
Wed, 06 Feb 2013 23:14:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=211393#comment-1648509This is one of those things where I wonder whether I should say anything or not, but seriously that really is not only an obviously hispanic accent, but an obviously regional hispanic accent.